Freeport Indonesia, union pay talks drag on

The deadline for pay talks between Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold and its Indonesian workers has been extended until the end of this week, with little progress made so far, a union official told Reuters on Wednesday. The union, representing about 8,000 employees, had initially demanded a pay of $30 to $200 per hour from the current $1.5 to $3.5 rate, but this had since been reduced, Virgo Solossa said, without giving any more details. 

 Disagreements between the two sides include how much of a pay rise should be given to workers at the mine, located in the Indonesian side of Papua, Solossa said. 

 The negotiation, which started late last month, has been extended until Aug. 26, from Aug. 20, and "the positions of the parties are far away from reaching an agreement", Solossa told Reuters by telephone. 

 "If we are not able to reach a deal then, we will ask our union members, who have given us the mandate, of what they want with the last offer," he added. "If they accept, we will accept the offer, but if they reject, there could be strike part-two." 

 Freeport was unavailable for comment. 

 Prior to the payrise talks, the workers had held an eight-day strike at the Grasberg mine, which caused a production loss of 35 million pounds of copper and 60,000 ounces of gold, the firm said.